Ex-Bush aides to testify on prosecutor firings

Rove, Miers will testify about prosecutor firingsFormer top Bush aides' agreement to talk to House panel ends lawsuit

NEDRA PICKLER, ASSOCIATED PRESS |
March 4, 2009

WASHINGTON — Former top aides to President George W. Bush agreed on Wednesday to testify before Congress under oath about the firings of U.S. attorneys, a controversy over allegations of political interference that became a major issue in Bush’s second term.

The agreement calls for Rove and Miers, Bush’s top political adviser and White House counsel, to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in closed depositions “under the penalty for perjury,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich. The committee said it also might call the two for public testimony.

The arrangement ends a lawsuit over whether former White House aides could be forced to testify about matters on which they advised the president. Bush had ordered Rove and Miers not to testify in the U.S. attorneys investigation, and the Judiciary Committee sued a year ago.

In July 2008, U.S. District Judge John Bates rejected Bush’s contention that senior White House advisers were immune from the committee’s subpoenas, siding with Congress’ power to investigate the executive branch. The Bush administration had appealed the decision.

But Bush spokesman Rob Saliterman said on Wednesday, “At the urging of the Obama administration, and in consideration of the executive branch interests at stake, we have reached an accommodation with the House Judiciary Committee that satisfies the committee’s desire for additional information and will finally put this matter to rest.”

Justice Department officials said the committee and the Obama administration would make a joint filing to the court asking the judge to stay the lawsuit over the issue. If the agreement is breached, the case could be revived.

White House Counsel Greg Craig said the deal came after “a tremendous amount of hard work, patience and flexibility on both sides.”

“The agreement will allow the committee to complete its investigation into the U.S. attorneys matter, and it will do so in the way such disputes have historically been resolved — through negotiation and accommodation between the legislative and executive branches,” Craig said. “The president is pleased that the parties have agreed to resolve this matter amicably.”